Macy’s completes sale of Nicollet Mall building

Macy’s announced Wednesday that it has completed the sale of its Nicollet Mall property to 601W Cos. for $59 million.

The downtown Minneapolis store, originally Dayton’s department store, first opened in 1902 and is now set to get a major redevelopment under new ownership. The New York-based firm is planning to build out creative office space on the upper floors and retail on the street and skyway levels, Macy’s chief store officer Jeff Kantor said in a statement.

“As a part of our overall real estate strategy, Macy’s has been investigating the best possible use for this property, especially given the large amount of unproductive and unused space on the upper floors. We have talked with a wide variety of partners in pursuit of a plan that would create the most value for the company and the community, and are pleased that the new owner intends to invest substantial capital to repurpose the building,” he said.

As it announced earlier this year, Macy’s plans to close the store this spring. The closing is one of 68 Macy’s store closings by mid-2017, which will an estimated 3,900 associates, including 280 in Minneapolis.

The Nicollet Mall store at 7th & Nicollet started a closing sale in January, which is expected to run through late March.